TUESDAY
FEB 26, 2019

Summer Heart

Brothertiger | Delorean Gray

Summer Heart

David Alexander, better known as Summer Heart, blends catchy lo- and dream-pop motifs that capture the soundtrack of an endless summer. Tastemaker blogs and mood-driven playlist curators have loved his tracks for years, with Hype Machine promoting him on ‘Nordic Spotlight’s Top 20 of 2016’ and ‘Hype Machine Favorites Vol.1’ on Spotify. With the 2017 release of his new album, 101, his Spotify pro le is pushing 40 million plays, and his Soundcloud is close behind at 10 million.

The new album tells the story of David’s love/hate relationship with music, best expressed in the song, “Love Affairs,” that acts as both a devotion to making music and as a love letter to someone special. These universal life experiences are musically infused with nostalgia for days of summers passed. Lyrically, Summer Heart songs touch on the transience of summer and the fleeting relationships therein. Hints of Washed Out, Blood Orange and Toro y Moi have inspired David to re ne chillwave sounds and polish them into his own summerwave aesthetic.

On his shift from lo- to electronic dream-pop,
David says, “I’ve always been into electronic music. Many of my very early Summer Heart releases
were 100% electronic. So, the sound of my album 101 is mostly due to my current influences, which are leaning more towards the electronic. The lo- sounds are disappearing because I am improving my production skills, which make me more con dent as a songwriter.”

David assembled his song ideas for 101 on the
road and recorded them back home in Sweden. He recalls, “I was in New York at the time, just hanging out, visiting art galleries and exhibitions, watching people, drinking mojitos and listening to music in my headphones.” Summer Heart is a musical diary of snapshots and memories from David Alexander’s life experiences.

David Alexander, better known as Summer Heart, blends catchy lo- and dream-pop motifs that capture the soundtrack of an endless summer. Tastemaker blogs and mood-driven playlist curators have loved his tracks for years, with Hype Machine promoting him on ‘Nordic Spotlight’s Top 20 of 2016’ and ‘Hype Machine Favorites Vol.1’ on Spotify. With the 2017 release of his new album, 101, his Spotify pro le is pushing 40 million plays, and his Soundcloud is close behind at 10 million.

The new album tells the story of David’s love/hate relationship with music, best expressed in the song, “Love Affairs,” that acts as both a devotion to making music and as a love letter to someone special. These universal life experiences are musically infused with nostalgia for days of summers passed. Lyrically, Summer Heart songs touch on the transience of summer and the fleeting relationships therein. Hints of Washed Out, Blood Orange and Toro y Moi have inspired David to re ne chillwave sounds and polish them into his own summerwave aesthetic.

On his shift from lo- to electronic dream-pop,
David says, “I’ve always been into electronic music. Many of my very early Summer Heart releases
were 100% electronic. So, the sound of my album 101 is mostly due to my current influences, which are leaning more towards the electronic. The lo- sounds are disappearing because I am improving my production skills, which make me more con dent as a songwriter.”

David assembled his song ideas for 101 on the
road and recorded them back home in Sweden. He recalls, “I was in New York at the time, just hanging out, visiting art galleries and exhibitions, watching people, drinking mojitos and listening to music in my headphones.” Summer Heart is a musical diary of snapshots and memories from David Alexander’s life experiences.

Brothertiger

In the mid 1980s new wave era, with feel good singles, such as “Love Shack” and “Footloose,” at the top of the charts, confessional songs of disheartening childhood experiences was the last thing one might expect from an aspiring young band. Yet it was the then newcomers Tears For Fears’ dark remembrances, supported by infectious melodies, that many rock critics now cite as having struck a chord with the young recession era generation causing their debut The Hurting to go to number one in the UK and the top ten in the U.S.

With all the pressure a success of this kind can bring, including a mass of fans anxiously awaiting new material, their next recording sessions could have easily been a play it safe affair. Instead the band pushed themselves ever further artistically, with arrangements of a much greater level of complexity and musicianship. While the lyrics of much of what would become their second album, Songs From The Big Chair, would remain introspective, it may have been the more mature, and universal, coming of age themes that contributed to the album having an even wider appeal than The Hurting.

In any case, with yet another string of hits from Big Chair — including “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Shout,” “Head over Heels,” and “I Believe” — Tears For Fears would find themselves not only standing head to head with the best acts of the day, it has since earned them the status of having one of highest grossing albums of the Eighties. Still today these songs remain permanent fixtures on classic radio, and Big Chair is now pantheon of seminal albums of the decade. -Ghettoblaster

In the mid 1980s new wave era, with feel good singles, such as “Love Shack” and “Footloose,” at the top of the charts, confessional songs of disheartening childhood experiences was the last thing one might expect from an aspiring young band. Yet it was the then newcomers Tears For Fears’ dark remembrances, supported by infectious melodies, that many rock critics now cite as having struck a chord with the young recession era generation causing their debut The Hurting to go to number one in the UK and the top ten in the U.S.

With all the pressure a success of this kind can bring, including a mass of fans anxiously awaiting new material, their next recording sessions could have easily been a play it safe affair. Instead the band pushed themselves ever further artistically, with arrangements of a much greater level of complexity and musicianship. While the lyrics of much of what would become their second album, Songs From The Big Chair, would remain introspective, it may have been the more mature, and universal, coming of age themes that contributed to the album having an even wider appeal than The Hurting.

In any case, with yet another string of hits from Big Chair — including “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Shout,” “Head over Heels,” and “I Believe” — Tears For Fears would find themselves not only standing head to head with the best acts of the day, it has since earned them the status of having one of highest grossing albums of the Eighties. Still today these songs remain permanent fixtures on classic radio, and Big Chair is now pantheon of seminal albums of the decade. -Ghettoblaster

Delorean Gray

"Culled from the ashes of goth-inflected new wave/indie outfit Fake Flowers, Delorean Gray emerges as a transformed man. What is essentially the solo project of singer, guitarist, keyboard player, songwriter, producer, and CL music scribe Jacob Chisenhall, is a cosmic pleasure cruise into a sci-fi fantasy universe. “Chrome Bikini” is the first single from Delorean Gray’s forthcoming debut album, Star Tropics, due out Jan. 25. The video, created by Jake Kruse and Zoë Endris, is one chapter in an ongoing saga — based on a story that Chisenhall is currently writing — blends classic exotica and rich, 27th century pop melodies. Imagine if the Beach Boys went on an away mission from the U.S.S. Enterprise under the tutelage of Captain Kirk and Spock, and you’re in the right solar system. What’s really at work here is a Ziggy Stardust-style transformation for Chisenhall, illustrating a different persona that’s playing a different kind of music, and he’s having some fun with it. Press play and crash land on a vacation planet where the adventure begins." -Creative Loafing Atlanta

"Culled from the ashes of goth-inflected new wave/indie outfit Fake Flowers, Delorean Gray emerges as a transformed man. What is essentially the solo project of singer, guitarist, keyboard player, songwriter, producer, and CL music scribe Jacob Chisenhall, is a cosmic pleasure cruise into a sci-fi fantasy universe. “Chrome Bikini” is the first single from Delorean Gray’s forthcoming debut album, Star Tropics, due out Jan. 25. The video, created by Jake Kruse and Zoë Endris, is one chapter in an ongoing saga — based on a story that Chisenhall is currently writing — blends classic exotica and rich, 27th century pop melodies. Imagine if the Beach Boys went on an away mission from the U.S.S. Enterprise under the tutelage of Captain Kirk and Spock, and you’re in the right solar system. What’s really at work here is a Ziggy Stardust-style transformation for Chisenhall, illustrating a different persona that’s playing a different kind of music, and he’s having some fun with it. Press play and crash land on a vacation planet where the adventure begins." -Creative Loafing Atlanta